7 replies to this topic

[monter]

This is an awesome site I came across! And it's just as I thought...Nolan Ryan is still the fastest pitcher ever...

http://efastball.com/baseball/stats/fastest-pitch-speed-in-major-leagues/

I love their article on Nolan Ryan...

Our best estimate is that Nolan Ryan's pitch in 1974 was 108.1 mph FFE using today's standard of measurement at 50 feet from the plate.

Nolan Ryan was recorded by some Rockwell International scientists (likely by a coherent laser radar) at 100.9 mph, at 9-10 feet from plate (h), on 8/20/1974 in Anaheim Stadium (Angels) and the speed was verified by the Guinness Book of World Records (a). This record stands to this day.

The news of the new record created such a sensation that the Angels decided to have a promotion where fans would get to guess Ryan's fastest speed at the next home game. Ryan's pitch in that game reached 100.8 mph (at 9-10 feet from plate) on 9/7/1974 (a). See chart.

Today's pitch speeds are measured from 50 feet away from the plate, but Ryan's was measured at 10 feet. Pitch speeds drop 8-11 mph (average 9 mph) from 50 ft away to the front of the plate. So we must add 6-8 mph to the speed measured by Rockwell in order to be equivalent to today's readings.

Therefore, Nolan Ryan's pitching speed as measured today would be at minimum 106 mph and could have been as high as 110 mph.

How did we arrive at 108.1 mph? The facts are 100.9 at 10 feet, plus 9 mph drop per 50 feet. So add 7.2 mph (9/50*40) to 100.9 to get 108.1 mph.

There is a comparison of Nolan Ryan vs Joel Zumaya, complete with graph...

[jcisco loboe'77]

W O W !!!
....imagine getting beaned by 1ne of these pitches!!!

[monter]

W O W !!!
....imagine getting beaned by 1ne of these pitches!!!

Think about when you'd have to swing to even hit a pitch like that...

100.9 MPH (at 10 feet from the plate) = 147.99 feet per second (average velocity).

That's almost the length of a football field (goal line to goal line) in two seconds (if the velocity were constant).

The pitcher's mound is 60 feet, 6 inches from home plate. Meaning that, if he threw the ball from exactly 60 feet, 6 inches, a batter would have roughly 0.409 seconds (give or take) to recognize location, decide whether or not to swing, and get the bat through the zone, and try to make contact.

And what's really scary is that Nolan Ryan said he threw faster pitches in that game in 1974...but the system that the Rockwell scientists were using didn't cover the entire plate. It basically covered the middle 30% of the plate (or thereabouts), so anything outside of that wouldn't have registered effectively.

I can't remember if that was in the "Feel The Heat" video, or in his autobiography "Throwing Heat".

But let's go a bit deeper...let's say the lunge forward (push off the mound) puts the release of the ball 4 feet closer. Now, you're looking at 56.5 feet. So then, that reduces the time you have to hit the ball down to roughly 0.382 seconds.

It takes the average human roughly 0.400 seconds (four tenths of a second) to blink, I believe.

Edited by monter, 11 January 2010 - 10:33 AM.

[Mr. Clean]

Mark Wohlers threw a few 100+ mph in Houston a few years ago. Braves at Astros.

[monter]

Mark Wohlers threw a few 100+ mph in Houston a few years ago. Braves at Astros.

But, at what distance were they clocked? Were they clocked at 50 feet from home plate, as is the norm it seems, or 10 feet in front of the plate, like Nolan's were?

Remember this, though:

Today's pitch speeds are measured from 50 feet away from the plate, but Ryan's was measured at 10 feet. Pitch speeds drop 8-11 mph (average 9 mph) from 50 ft away to the front of the plate. So we must add 6-8 mph to the speed measured by Rockwell in order to be equivalent to today's readings.

So if the guy threw a pitch that registered 102 on the gun (which the guns can be inaccurate), when the pitch crossed the plate, it was traveling between 94 and 96 mph. Still between 6.9 and 4.9 mph short of Nolan Ryan...

[Nedfan]

Former Astros pitcher, J.R. Richard was clocked at over 100 mph. At what distance, I'm not sure. J.R. stood 6'8'' tall, he could hold 7 baseballs in one hand, and by the time he stretched that frame towards home plate and released that fastball, he was probably only 10 feet away. Although his fastball was clocked at over 100 and it was very effective, what made him the premier pitcher he was, was his 95 mph slider.

[Nedfan]

bump

[jcisco loboe'77]

great imputs !